Gun perforator



July 7, 1942. A. J. ZSCHOKKE 2,288,931

GUN PERFORATOR Filed Aug. 1, 1941 I0. J F1042 INVENTOR Aer/we JZSCf/OKAE BY QM ATT NEY Patented July 7, 1942 GUN PERFORATOR Arthur J. Zschokke, Huntington Park, Calif., as-

Signor to Lane-Wells Cmpany,'Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application August'l, 1941, Serial No. 494,961

9 Claims.

My invention relates to gun perforators; that is, to devices which are adapted to be lowered.

into a well bore for the purpose of firing bullets through the surrounding. well casing and into the formation in order that fluids may enter the well bore. Among the objects of my invention are:

First, to provide a gun perforator wherein a maximum effective barrel length is obtained in a gun perforator of given diameter, in order that maximum acceleration of the bullet may be obtained;

Second, to provide a gun perforator wherein a maximum number of gun units may be incorporated in a gun perforator of given length, so that the largest possible number of bullets may be fired for each round trip of the gun perforator while maintaining the length and weight of the gun perforator within the limits permitting ease in handling; and

Third, to provide; a gun perforator which is an improvement of my copending application,

Serial No. 363,831, filed November 1, 1940 issued December 16, 1941, Patent No. 2,266,351, and which incorporates many of the advantages contained in said copending application.

With the, above and other objects inview, as may appear hereinafter, reference is directed to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a typical transversesectional view of the gun perforator through I--l of Figure 2, showing, by solid and dash lines the gun unit through which the section is taken, by dotted lines the adjacent gun unit below and, by broken lines indicating the axes of the various bores in two additional gun units further below for the purpose of indicating the relative angular relationship of the several gun units and the.

manner in which they are arranged in the gun dy;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through 2--2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is another fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through 3--3 of Figure 1.

My gun perforator comprises a unitary-gun body I in which are formed a plurality of gun units. The gun units or the axes of the various bores which form several of the gun units are represented generally by the reference characters A, B, C and D.

Each gun unit includes a cartridge bore 2 drilled laterally into the gun body at an acute angle with respect to a radius line of the gun body. The inner end of the cartridge bore receives a main cartridge 3; its outer portion is threaded to receive a plug land a clearance recess 5 is' provided at the outer extremity of the cartridge bore to receive the head of the plug 4.

Each gun unit includes a gun bore 6' located in a parallel but axially offset plane With respect to the axis of the cartridge bore. The gun bore extends diametrically and. a plane passed longitudinally through its axisforms-an acute angle with respect to-a similar plane through the axis of the cartridge bore. of the gun bore is at the remote side of the gun body from the cartridge bore, so that the inner or closed ends of the two bores are grouped toether.

The gun bore receives'at its inner end an auxiliary cartridge 1 and at the head of the cartridge a bullet 8. The outer or muzzle end of the gun bore is closed by a sealing disk 9.

The inner ends of the cartridge bore and gun bore are joined by a connecting passage IQ which is directed upwardly from the gun bore to the cartridge bore. The connecting passage is formed by boring into the gun body on an incline with respect to the horizontal axis. The outer end of the connecting passage, between the gun bore and the exterior of the gun body, is closed by a plug II and a weld l2.

The gun body is provided with a longitudinally extending distributor wire channel [3 arranged on the opposite side of the gun bore from the cartridge bore. provided with a cover 14 and contains distributor wires I5. Each gun unit incorporates a cross passage [6 extending from the distributor wire channel I3 substantially parallel with the corresponding cartridge bore and in a common horizontal plane therewith. The outer end of each cross passage I6 is enlarged to receive a terminal member 11. The outer extremity of the cross passage is still further enlarged to form a clearance socket I8 which is connected by a slot IS with the clearance recess 5. A fuse lead wire 20 extends from the plug 4 to the terminal member I1.

The fuse lead wire 20 extends through the cartridge bore plug 4 to make electrical contact with a suitable electrically responsive igniter associated with the main cartridge 3. The construction of the terminal member, fuse lead and its electrical connection with the cartridge is more fully disclosed in my copending application.

It is preferred to arrange the gun units in a spiral. It is also preferred that alternate gun bores be directed in opposite directions. The Ver- The muzzle end Thedistributor wire channel is tical axes of the gun bores of the several gun units advance helically in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1; that is, gun unit A fires upwardly as viewed in Figure 1; gun unit B fires downwardly in an almost diametrically opposite direction; gun unit C fires upwardly but is advanced clockwise with respect to gun unit A; and gun unit D fires downwardly but is advanced clockwise from gun unit B. In order that the gun bores may be arranged in subtsantially diametrically opposite sets or groups, the cartridge bores are directed first on one and then the other side of a center line through the gun body.

It will be observed, particularly from Figure 2, that very close spacing of the gun bores is possible, and that ample wall thickness is provided for all of the bores which must withstand high explosive pressures. In this connection, it should be noted that the cartridge bores may, in crossing the gun bores, pass relatively close for the reason that their axes are substantially at right angles and only in a very small area is the wall thickness reduced, and this area is sufficiently small to insure adequate strength.

While initially the connecting passage It is relatively small in diameter, it should be noted that this passage'will tend to erode as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 3. This, however, will have no appreciable efiect on the operation of the gun units.

It Will also be noted from the examination of Figur 2 that the effective length of gun barrel is actually greater than three-fourths of the diameter of the gun body. This is made possible by the offset overlapping arrangement of the inner ends of the cartridge bore and gun bore. It should be noted, however, that while the cartridge bores are shown as occupying planes parallel with the gun bores, the cartridge bores; may be tilted upwardly or downwardly in an inclined plane, but beyond a nominal inclination increased spacing of the gun bores would be required.

Various changes and alternate arrangements may be made within the scope of the appended claims, in which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in the invention as broadly as the prior art permits.

I claim:

1. A gun perforator construction comprising: a gun body having formed therein a plurality of laterally directed gun bores axially spaced from each other along the gun body less than onehalf the diameter of the gun body, a plurality of cartridge bores extending between the gun bores in offset planes, and connecting passages between the inner ends of said cartridge bores and gun bores.

2. A gun perforator construction comprising: a gun body defining a plurality of laterally directed gun bores, a cartridge bore for each gun bore located in an offset plane, the inner ends of said bores crossing and projecting beyond each other, and a connecting passage between the relatively projecting inner ends of said bores.

3. A gun perforator construction comprising: a gun body defining a plurality of laterally directed gun bores, a cartridge bore for each gun bore located in an ofiset plane, the inner ends of said bores crossing and projecting beyond each other, a connecting passage between the relatively projecting inner ends of said bores, a longitudinally extending distributor wire channel, and distributor wire passages extending from said channel between said gun bores to the outer ends of said cartridge bores.

4. A gun perforator construction comprising: a gun body defining a plurality of gun bores laterally arranged alternately in substantially diametrically oppositely directed sets; said gun body also defining a plurality of cartridge bores interposed between said gun bores in difierent planes, said cartridge bores directed inwardly from a common side toward the inner ends of said gun bores; said gun body also defining passages connecting each gun bore with a corresponding cartridge bore.

5. A gun perforator construction comprising: a gun body defining a plurality of laterally directed gun bores; said gun body also defining a plurality of cartridg bores disposed between said gun bores; said gun body also defining a connecting passage between each gun bore and a corresponding cartridge bore; said gun body also defining a longitudinal distributor wire channel and laterally extending distributor wire passages extending from said channel between said gun bores to the outer ends of said cartridge bores.

6. A construction, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the muzzle ends of said gun bores define a double helical path, and the outer ends of said cartridge bore define a single helical path.

7. A construction, as set forth in claim 5, wherein said gun bores are arranged with their muzzle ends directed alternately in substantially diametrically opposite directions and said cartridge bores are directed alternately past opposite sides of the center of said gun body into proximity with the inner ends of their corresponding gun bores.

8. A construction, as set forth in claim 5, wherein said gun bores are arranged with their muzzle ends directed alternately in substantially diametrically opposite directions and said cartridge bores are directed alternately past opposite sides of the center of said gun body into proximity with the inner ends of their corresponding gun bores, and wherein said distributor wire passages are likewise directed alternately past opposite sides of the center of-said gun body in substantial parallelism with their corersponding cartridge bores.

9. A construction, as set forth in claim 5, wherein said gun bores are arranged with their muzzle ends directed alternately in substantially diametrically opposite directions and said cartridge bores are directed alternately past opposite sides of the center of said gun body into proximity with the inner ends of their corresponding gun bores, and wherein the muzzle ends of said gun bores define a double helical path and the outer endsof said cartridge bores define a single helical path.

ARTHUR J. ZSCHOKKE. 

